South Korea requests Interpol to assist with Do Kwon’s extradition: reports

People • March 7, 2024, 5:14AM EST

Published 1 minute earlier on

Quick Take

The South Korean police and the Justice Ministry have requested Interpol’s assistance in bringing back Terra co-founder Do Kwon, who was sought for multiple charges including securities fraud, according to local media reports.

South Korea’s National Police Agency and Ministry of Justice have requested Interpol’s assistance on Thursday in bringing back Terraform Labs co-founder Kwon Do-hyeong, according to local news reports.

The police agency sent a letter to Interpol’s General Secretariat, South Korean news agency Newsis reported, citing a police representative who said that the Ministry of Justice is also separately requesting help from Interpol.

A police officer told The Block that the team responsible for the Do Kwon case was in "emergency meetings" after receiving calls from the press. The Ministry of Justice was not immediately available for comment.

Earlier this month, a Montenegrin court revoked Kwon’s extradition order to the U.S., after his defense attorneys filed an appeal, reportedly claiming that the decision was made on misinformation that the U.S. requested extradition ahead of South Korea.

The former leader of Terraform Labs has been sought by U.S. and South Korean authorities for fraud charges stemming from the collapse of the Terra ecosystem in May 2022 — which wiped out some $40 billion of investor wealth in a few days.

Do Kwon was arrested in Montenegro last March, charged with using a fake passport in an attempt to leave the country, and was sentenced to four months in November.

On multiple occasions, Kwon has denied the accusations that he and Terraform Labs deliberately defrauded investors.

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About Author

Danny Park is an East Asia reporter at The Block writing on topics including Web3 developments and crypto regulations in the region. He was formerly a reporter at Forkast.News, where he actively covered the downfall of Terra-Luna and FTX. Based in Seoul, Danny has previously produced written and video content for media companies in Korea, Hong Kong and China. He holds a Bachelor of Journalism and Business Marketing from the University of Hong Kong.